Wadi Egat drains part of the west slopes of Gebel Abu Gurdi and the south part of Gebel Egat, for the first half of its course being shut in by high hills and for the latter half passing over a gently falling plain.
After passing Gebel el Anbat, Wadi Kharit continues its course a little south of west, in broad shallow drainage channels over a great sandy plain. In this part of its course it receives many important feeders from the mountain masses which limit the plain to the north. The principal of these feeders are the Wadis Anbat, Abarun, Um Daba, Abu Argub, Safihat, Um Sellim, and Medsus. Near where Wadi Medsus enters, Wadi Kharit takes a more southerly course, passing north of a mass of low dark hills called Gebel Geneina, and here it receives Wadi Abu Gurdi, draining the west slopes of the mountain of the same name, the ill-defined Wadi Elemikan (see [p. 84]), draining the extensive plain south of Gebel Abu Gurdi, and the Rod el Geneina, draining from the hills of Geneina. A little further on, curving to the north-west, it receives Wadi Abu Hashim and Wadi Abu Selili, which drain the south flanks of Gebel Kahfa.
The next feeder is the Wadi Helie, which drains the west slopes of Gebel Kahfa and enters Kharit from the north-east; a well, Bir Helie, exists in this wadi about eight kilometres above its junction with Kharit. The well appears to be of the same character as Bir Abu Hamamid; it was yielding plenty of good water in the spring of 1906, but in the autumn of the same year the supply was said to be smaller and rather salty.
About ten kilometres below the point of influx of Wadi Helie, Wadi Kharit receives Wadi Abu Hamamid (see [p. 85]), coming from the north-east, and some fourteen kilometres further on another tributary, the Rod el Kharuf, enters from the opposite side conveying the drainage from the north-west flanks of Gebel Zergat Naam.
In the remaining portion of its course to the Nile, Wadi Kharit receives numerous other tributaries, of which the principal are Wadi Khashab and Wadi Antar on the north, and the Wadi Garara on the south (see [pp. 86] and [87]).
On the whole, Wadi Kharit is poor in vegetation; trees are fairly abundant in the central portion of its course, but both near its head and near the river it is very barren. In consequence of its sandy and arid character near the Nile, it is not usual for caravans to journey along the wadi from its mouth; Arabs from Daraw usually go up the tortuous and sandy Wadi Allawi, and thence enter Kharit either by the Rod Abu Modellim or by a track among hills which leads eastward to Bir Qoleib. Bir Qoleib is a good well in a small tributary of Wadi Kharit, about seventy kilometres by road from the Daraw. From Bir Qoleib to the wells of Abu Hamamid and Helie the westward journey is about 110 kilometres, while from Bir Qoleib to the well of Abu Hashim, south-east (on the road to Abu Saafa), is a distance of about seventy-five kilometres.
Wadi Elemikan is the name given to an ill-defined system of drainage channels meandering over the plain south of Gebel Abu Gurdi. It originates on the main watershed, and at its head there is a very easy pass over into the Wadi Lahami, which descends to the sea. At this point, which is 590 metres above the sea, the watershed is ill-defined, being a sandy plain; but while to the west the plain continues with only a slight fall, to the east it soon gives place to rugged country through which narrow wadis descend rapidly towards the sea coast. The plain west of the watershed is remarkable for the presence of three great bosses of quartz, the largest of which, called Marwot Elemikan, rises as a conspicuous cone of dazzling whiteness to a height of sixty-eight metres above the plain. Besides the drainage from the plain itself, Wadi Elemikan receives feeders from the hills which flank Gebel Abu Gurdi to the south, and also a portion of the drainage from the Wadi Abu Gurdi, which divides into two channels on emerging from the mountains. Passing between the granite hills of Gebel Abu Derega and Gebel Selaia, Wadi Elemikan courses a little north of westward over a great sandy plain to join the Wadi Kharit north of Gebel Geneina in longitude 34° 36′. It is a barren wadi, but water can sometimes be obtained a little north of it at a small spring called Megal el Selaia, at the foot of a low hill one kilometre south-east of the great rounded granite boss of Gebel Selaia. I obtained a small supply of very good water here early in 1906, but the spring is a very slow one and is said to fail altogether in dry seasons.
Wadi Abu Hamamid, an important tributary of Wadi Kharit, originates as a series of gullies in the mountains of Gebel Abu Hamamid, on the west face of the main watershed, in longitude 34° 48′. It courses, among high hills a little north of west to longitude 34° 41′, then turns south-west and enters the plain which extends to the west of Bir Shadli. Here it receives part of the drainage from Wadi el Sheikh, and turns westward among lower hills, passing north of the red hills called El Hamra, to Bir Abu Hamamid, and then turning south-west between El Hamra and Hamrat Mukbud to join Kharit in longitude 34° 23′.
Bir Abu Hamamid is an important well; it is a rude irregular excavation, about six metres deep, in the wadi floor, down which men can walk to fill their water skins. This well was yielding more plentiful supplies in the autumn of 1906 than any of the other wells in the neighbourhood; the water was rather salty and muddy, but quite drinkable.
From near Bir Abu Hamamid, a track leads north-westward over the hills to Bir Khashab and on to Bir Masur. To reach Bir Shadli, one follows up the Wadi Abu Hamamid till it opens on to a plain, and then strikes almost due eastward across the plain.